Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

kalah
] is 
kol he
, that is, 
kol 
means the inclusion 
[
klaliyut
] of all attributes […], while 
he 
is the aspect of disclosure.”
61
Notably, in 
such cases the female is usually presented as “bride” or “wife,”
62
that is, she is 
contextualized in the framework of halakhically sanctioned union with the male 
rather than as an independent entity.
It is important to stress here that the gender categories in Rashaz’s teachings, 
as in the Kabbalah, are fluid.
63
Defining the male as donor and the female as 
recipient not only detaches both gender categories from sex categories, but in fact 
60
See for example 
Seder tefilot
46d: “It is also so according to the literal meaning [of the statement] 
that [
b
Ketubot 59b] ‘a woman is only for the sake of beauty’: since women are by way of the creation 
more beautiful than men in their nature, as is well known, this is a sign that the issue is to be 
understood in this way also on high. This is why they are more beautiful in their nature, because ‘their 
end is fixed in their beginning’ [
Sefer yetsirah
, 1:7] and they receive from the light of 
Keter
”
 
[Appendix 5]. See also Idel, 
Kabbalah and Eros
, 198, where he discusses a similar concept found in 
the teachings of Dov Ber the Maggid of Mezeritch, and transmited by his student Ze’ev Volf of 
Zhitomir in 
Or ha-me’ir
14b, based on the same passage from 
b
Ketubot 59b: “All the worlds in 
general were created only in order that the Holy One, blessed be He, will enjoy the lower degrees 
which are called Woman, which will receive an illumination from Him, blessed be He” [Appendix 6]. 
61
LT 
Shir ha-shirim
8d [Appendix 7]. This can be compared, for example, to T4, 5:107b, where the 
letter 
he
“which, in its written form, also has dimensions of length and width, indicates the extension 
[
hitpashtut
].” 
62
See for example the image of the feminine aspect of the Godhead that sustains and purifies the 
lower worlds, compared to the woman of valour who [Prv 31:15] “giveth food to her household” in 
Seder
tefilot 
115a. I will return to this issue later in the chapter. 
63
For a discussion of this phenomenon in Habad, see Wolfson, 
Open Secret
, 204-05. For references to 
kabbalistic sources, see idem, “Min u-minut”, 231-262; Idel, 
Kabbalah and Eros
, 82-83. 

---

220 
makes all gender attributions relative, for depending on circumstances, the same 
entity can be seen as both feminine and masculine. Hence, following the 
Zohar
,
64
even 
Malkhut
, the epitome of femininity in the sefirotic tree, goes by a masculine 
name “lad” [
na‘ar
] until it receives the influx from the world of the masculine 
[
‘alma
 
di-dekhura
], when it takes the name of “maiden” [
na‘arah
].
65
Thus, in certain contexts, male and female can stand for God and the people 
of Israel, for God injects life into Israel,
66
and Israel longs for God as the wife longs 
for her husband.
67
Conversely, the people of Israel may represent the male, while the 
Torah – the female, particularly in contexts in which Rashaz implements an 
alternative interpretation of the verse [Dt 33:4]: “Moses commanded us a law 
[
torah
], the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob,” which reads “betrothed” 
[
me’orasah
] instead of “inheritance” [
morashah
].
68
Also the Torah itself can be 
perceived as a junction of two substrates: the masculine Written Torah and the 
feminine Oral Torah.
69
The identification of the bride with both the Torah and Israel creates a 
problem which Rashaz himself tries to resolve by ascribing the Torah-bride and 
Israel-bride to two different types of divine service, namely to worship through 
recitation of the Torah by learned men, and to worship through performance of the 
commandments, charity in particular, by uneducated men who cannot recite the 
whole Torah.
70
Elsewhere, the letters constituting the prayer text are described as 
feminine, as opposed to the masculine letters constituting the Torah.
71
In some cases 
gender characteristics can be ascribed to different stages of worship; thus, for 
64
See Zii 38b 
65
LT 
Matot
85c, 
Tsav
9d.
For an analogous example where 
Shekhinah 
changes her name from 
Tsedek 
to 
Tsedakah
, see MAHZ 
Ketsarim
, 159.
66
See for example MAHZ
 Razal
, 492. 
67
See for example MAHZ
 Parshiyot, 
ii, 567; 
Seder tefilot 
280d. 
68
Based on 
b
Berakhot 57a, 
b
Pesahim. 49b. See for example: TO 44d, 54d, 99c; LT 
Shelah
45b, 47c. 
69
See for example TO 6d; LT 
Be-shalah
1a; 
Seder tefilot
132c. 
70
MAHZ 
Ketsarim
, 268-9. 
71
See for example TO 63d-64a; MAHZ
 5567
, 40-42. 

---

221 
example, humility, described as descending to the level of a woman, is a condition 
necessary to achieve the state of cleaving to God, accessible to every Jewish soul.
72
Furthermore, gender categories are used to draw borders between different 
modes of hasidic worship and between a hasidic 
tsadik
and his flock. On the grounds 
of the distinction between the active male and the passive female, Rashaz 
distinguishes between feminine and masculine modes of hasidic worship, where the 
former concentrates on receiving spiritual power from the 
tsadik
,
 
and the latter puts a 
stress on individual spiritual effort. Even though the “feminine” Hasidim excel in the 
attribute of awe, this awe is more limited than the “masculine” attribute, for by dint 
of being feminine it lacks mind [
da‘at
].
73
By contrast, one whose worship is based 
on his individual spiritual powers, is equipped as a “male” with 
da‘at
– the attribute 
that comprises two opposite aspects simultaneously.
74
Thanks to this he may serve 
God even when he is struck by “alien” thoughts, and reach a loftier level than one 
who stays on the “feminine” level of worship.
75
Additionally, in a manuscript text by a follower of Habad, the relation 
between 
tsadik 
and Hasid is compared to the relation between man and wife: just as 
a man acquires his wife by money, document or intercourse,
76
so the 
tsadik 
acquires 
a follower by drawing down love of God
77
(or alternatively, by the money the Hasid 
gives to the 
tsadik
78
), by his teachings,
79
and by a one-on-one encounter between 
them [
yehidut
].
80
72
See MAHZ
 Ketsarim
, 170-1. 
73
See 
b
Shabat 33b. 
74
See 
Seder tefilot 
80d. 
75
Mondshine, 
Migdal ‘oz
, 380-1, where this idea is set in the context of the polemics about Rashaz’s 
way of leadership as opposed to that of the Polish 
tsadikim
. For a slightly different version of the 
discourse, see 
Boneh Yerushalaim
, 60. 
76
See 
m
Kidushin
 
1:1. 
77
A play on the double meaning of Hebrew root 
kaf samekh pe
meaning both money or silver and 
yearning or love. For the overt use of this concept, see for example T1, 50:70b; LT 
‘Ekev 
16d. 
78
Based on 
Shulhan ‘arukh
, Even ha-‘ezer 27:9 – a man can acquire a wife by way of the pleasure he 
derived from a monetary gift he received from her. 
79
See LT 
Be-shalah 
1c: “The Sages of blessed memory said: [
m
Kidushin 1:1] ‘A women is acquired 
by three means’ […] ‘by document’ [
bi-shetar
] refers to the letters constituting the Torah.” See also 

---

222